Sometimes, you get what you pay for. In keeping with their small-market tendencies, the A’s cleaned house this offseason, trimming their payroll to $48 million, which is the second-lowest in MLB, by trading away Matt Olson, Matt Chapman, Chris Bassitt and Sean Manaea. In response, fans have staged a protest of sorts, refusing to buy tickets amid the team’s latest fire sale. Wednesday afternoon’s game in Oakland was attended by just 2,703 fans, the Coliseum’s lowest turnout in 42 years. A day earlier, the game was rescheduled to 3 p.m. PT from its original start time of 6:40 p.m. due to inclement weather. By comparison, the A’s Triple-A affiliate drew nearly twice that amount for Wednesday’s home game in Vegas (5,174).
No one was expecting a sellout against the Orioles, owners of MLB’s worst record last season, especially on 4/20 (a weed-centric holiday that originated in the Bay Area), of all days. But it’s still jarring to see a major-league team fill just eight percent of its seats. And who could blame them? With whispers of the A’s relocating, why would fans spend their hard-earned money at the Coliseum (rated by Tim Kelly as the second-worst stadium in all of baseball), supporting a team that consistently skimps on payroll while refusing to upgrade its painfully outdated facility?
The “Moneyball” model championed by longtime executive Billy Beane has been successful in some sense, keeping the A’s relevant by maximizing their limited resources, but there has to be a tipping point. When does “Moneyball” just become a euphemism for cheap?
Oakland has experienced a mass exodus of late, losing the Raiders to Las Vegas and the Warriors to neighboring San Francisco. When the A’s inevitably bolt for Las Vegas (ownership continues to monitor potential building sites for a 30,000-seat domed stadium on the strip), leaving the Bay for the glitz and glamour of America’s most-debauched city, they’ll only have themselves to blame. USA Today's Bob Nightengale also shared a picture from Tuesday's game.
